Processing of the Canadian Census of Agriculture relies heavily upon access to its questionnaires. The documents are required within many stages of collection and processing to ensure delivery of quality products to agricultural clients. Historically, access to the physical documents has proven problematic in terms of timely delivery, concurrent access, management, tracking, storage and cost. As early as 1984, Census management recognized the potential of document imaging technology to improve data quality and timeliness. However, in the 80s it took little effort to recognize that the technology of the day was not sufficiently mature or affordable for the Census. In 1996, document imaging became a successful reality for the Canadian Census of Agriculture. This paper describes the experiences, the issues and the expectations of the many different players involved in the implementation.